Mirror Theory
by Calapine
Summary: As a megalomaniac, the Black Guardian and a traitorous companion conspire to kill him, the Doctor finds unlikely allies in the Institute.
1. Opening

+++  
  
Mirror Theory  
  
Part One  
  
+++  
  
"I never did like mysteries."  
  
"That's not what you said when we found Tarvan pyramid."  
  
"That's different . . .I could solve that."  
  
The woman put her ear against the blue box and listened intently. She frowned slightly as she stepped away and circled it again, her boots clicking on the concrete floor. Apart from the two of them the warehouse was quite empty, of people and stores. It was supposed to be abandoned, and secure, but the presence of the incongruous blue box was arguing quite convincingly with that assumption. Finally she stepped away from it and folded her arms. "It is a very odd object," she commented quietly.  
  
"You look like you recognise it," he commented.  
  
"No," she said firmly, and glanced at him. "Glaring at it isn't going to help either. It's obvious what happened: someone has overrode the security system and has put that thing in here."  
  
"But why?" he asked, turning to her. "What is the point? If it's a joke, it's a rather dangerous one to pull. The colony worlds have started getting very nasty about security; breaking in here could give you five years in the mines."  
  
"Like I said, it's a mystery and, frankly, one we don't have time to worry about."  
  
A frown crossed his sharp features.  
  
"Call security. Not the governor's troops, make sure they're working for us and have the thing taken to storage."  
  
"I assume this has to be done before Michael Star arrives?" she asked.  
  
"And don't mention this to him either. None of Tenvi's talent, and he's far too jumpy."  
  
"What about the mirrors?"  
  
"They're on their way."  
  
With a final glance at the box, the woman tapped her wrist-control and the massive warehouse doors slid open. Sunlight spilled in. "Right," she said. "Back to work."  
  
+++  
  
"Doctor, how much further have we got to go?" Tegan was tired, and she was going to make sure that the Doctor knew it. The Doctor, on the other hand, had not even broken a sweat and it seemed like he could keep up this almost jogging pace forever. The ground crunched beneath Tegan's feet - she had seen nothing but dry and gritty terrain since they had left the TARDIS. A mere handful of twisted black plants clung pathetically to the earth. Despite the seemingly endless desert, the Doctor seemed to know precisely where they were going.  
  
"I'd say another four or five miles and we should be on the main road," replied the Doctor without pausing in his stride. "Don't worry, we'll be at the town by nightfall."  
  
"Couldn't we slow down a little?" she asked.  
  
"Temperatures drop rather rapidly when the sun goes down here, Tegan. I don't think you'd want to be outside."  
  
"All right, all right," she grumbled, continuing to keep up the exhausting pace, and wishing he'd mentioned that detail before they had left the TARDIS: she could have worn warmer clothing. "I hope seeing this professor guy is worth it."  
  
"Of course it is. Professor Tenvi is an old friend, and not only that he's about to make one of his more important discoveries in the next few days. It'll be fascinating to watch."  
  
"Right," muttered Tegan, wishing, and not for the first time, that Nyssa was still travelling with them, although she would probably have found this science thing equally interesting. Still, she would have been sympathetic, at least. "So how did he end up in this dump?"  
  
"Not a dump, Tegan. It's just a barren world, not enough nutrients in the soil to support complex plant life. Although earlier this century there was a large mining operation here, valuable enough to put up orbital platforms for planetary defence. Of course, they didn't bother to take them down, eventually their decaying orbit will . . ."  
  
Tegan could tell he was warming to his subject, and stopped listening. It was getting colder, she realised, and she could really do with something to eat. She wasn't really sure how long had passed when the Doctor noticed she wasn't really listening.  
  
"You could have stayed in the TARDIS if you really didn't want to come," he said, reminding Tegan of something else that had been bothering her.  
  
"Not with him," she muttered. It took her a moment to realise that the Doctor had finally stopped moving. He turned around to face her, his blue eyes fixing on hers and she suddenly felt nervous. She looked away, at the ground. Nothing but dust. She could see the Doctor was still looking at her.  
  
"This has to stop," he said, very quietly.  
  
"I don't trust him, Doctor."  
  
"Turlough is travelling with us now. It wouldn't hurt you to be polite." He turned away, thrusting his hands into his pockets and began to walk.  
  
+++  
  
"That won't work."  
  
The deep voice rumbled around the console room of the TARDIS. Instinctively, Turlough jerked away from away form the console, and looked for its source. His hand reached into his blazer pocket and his fingers closed around the crystal. It was warm. He took it out, holding it in both hands, the light hurt his eyes, but he didn't look away.  
  
"He's gone," said Turlough. "I can escape, go home. Just tell me how to operate the controls." He paused, knowing that wasn't what this creature wanted. "The Doctor will be trapped on this world, you can destroy him whenever you like."  
  
"Foolish boy." Now the voice came from straight in front of him, and Turlough found himself staring at this entity that called itself the Black Guardian, and chose to appear as a human, but the deathly white skin, and pitiless black eyes betrayed it as something else. "The Doctor is no fool. He has taken a piece of the circuitry with him. Without it, this craft is useless."  
  
Turlough stepped away from the console, partly because he knew his efforts were now futile, but mostly just to take another step away from his so- called ally. He could feel fear and dread creeping through his mind, twisting themselves into his thoughts. "Can't you replace it?" he asked, clinging to the hope that it could be that simple.  
  
"No!" The word went through Turlough like a shard of ice. "I cannot be seen to interfere directly. You must kill the Doctor. Then you may take his ship," the voice softened, no longer stabbing at him. But those black pits that were his eyes were watching him. Dread. Hopelessness. It turned away and the eyes were gone. "Look!" it demanded, raising a black-clothed arm towards the scanner.  
  
The screen dissolved into a picture showing the warehouse outside. Massive doors at the far end were open now, but the warehouse was empty save for two figures, talking. No, decided Turlough, it looked more like they were arguing. So, this wasn't the safe, deserted place that the Doctor thought it was, but he couldn't see how this was going to help him. He kept looking at the screen, not really caring what was going on.  
  
"The woman is called Charis; she controls the research team of which Professor Tenvi is a part of. The other is Francis Denville, here to represent the companies interested in their research. You must gain their trust."  
  
"But how will that harm the . . ."  
  
"Quiet!" It turned back to him again, fury suffusing its features. It seemed to grow even as he watched, towering over him, its darkness draining the light from around it. The console room dimmed, as Turlough shrank into the wall. He held his hands in front of him; they were still wrapped round the crystal. The light glowed brighter, he felt it burning his hands but found he couldn't let go. "Do not interrupt me again, boy."  
  
Turlough nodded, his eyes wide, and it stepped back. The darkness ebbed away, and Turlough felt that he could breath again. It turned back to him, a ghost of a smile on its face.  
  
"Now, listen carefully. If you make a mistake, it will be you that they kill."  
  
+++  
  
"Here we are," said the Doctor with a smile, pushing the door open. Tegan dived in first, her arms hugged around herself, and almost collapsed in relief at the warm air. Her skin tingled in the heat, and she knew it was going to start hurting soon, but for the moment she was just relieved that she no longer felt like she was breathing icicles. She felt the Doctor guiding her forward, his arm supporting her as she walked, as there were, in fact, two more sets of doors before they were properly inside the building. Her legs gave way beneath her, but she didn't care, it was all going black anyway.  
  
Tegan felt warm hands on her face, and managed to force her eyes open to see the Doctor's concerned face looking down at her. She realised that she was lying down, tucked securely under several blankets. When had that happened? Well, this definitely wasn't her fault.  
  
"Thought I was going to die," she managed to say. "Probably got frostbite."  
  
"Nonsense," said the Doctor, seemingly unaffected by the cold. "I'll be right back." She heard a door click shut.  
  
"Hey," she tried to shout, indignant that he was leaving her alone with barely a sentence said to her. Her throat refused to co-operate. But she wasn't feeling ill. Carefully, Tegan stood up. She was still dressed, but she pulled one of the blankets round her anyway. Looking around, she saw that she was in a small room containing only a bed and a short, squat chest of drawers. An empty bookshelf was attached to one wall, and opposite there was a window with no curtain. It was dark outside, though she could see they were still in the town. Streetlights lit up the empty road below. She could see stronger lights in the distance, around taller, more imposing buildings. The spaceport, she guessed.  
  
"Ah, you're up." Tegan hadn't heard the door open, but now the Doctor stood in the doorway. "How are you feeling?"  
  
"Fine," managed Tegan, though she could hear that her voice wasn't quite right.  
  
"Your throat should be feeling better in an hour or so. The doctor here's quite good at treating that sort of thing." He took a step into the room hesitantly. "You should probably have something to eat," he said.  
  
Tegan nodded, and pulled the blanket tighter; she didn't care how stupid it looked, she was still cold.  
  
"Where are we?" she asked.  
  
"Delvan III Science Institute."  
  
"You've seen Professor Tenvi, then?" she asked, following him out of the room and down to the canteen. The corridors were deserted, and the canteen was just as empty.  
  
"Ah." The Doctor glanced down at the display of fruit: bright yellows and greens and reds. "Oh, look, an apple." He held it up at eye level. "A Bramley," he declared. "Superb specimen." He took a bite.  
  
"Doctor, what about Professor Tenvi?" repeated Tegan, who would have folded her arms if she hadn't had a blanket wrapped around them. "We are in the right place?" she asked suspiciously.  
  
"Of course we are. But he appears to have, um, disappeared."  
  
Tegan rolled her eyes. "Great, Doc," she muttered. "We come all this way and he's gone and done a runner."  
  
"I doubt that. But it is rather important that we find him. The Charis Demonstration takes place tomorrow, and he is there."  
  
"Maybe he'll just turn up."  
  
"There's no record of him ever having disappeared."  
  
"Maybe it wasn't important enough."  
  
"Tegan . . ." The Doctor paused, unwilling to start an argument. "I'm going to start looking for him. The people here are friendly enough, you should be fine."  
  
+++  
  
Professor Tenvi's office was a small square room stuffed with large cabinets and overflowing with paper. A small desk sat by the window, covered with more paper and pens and data chips, but the computer was missing. The walls were a dull white, and unadorned with pictures. Most unexpectedly of all, there was someone in the room: a young man with curly brown hair, crouched over the desk and searching through the papers.  
  
"Hello," said the Doctor. The man jerked up, surprise on his pale features. There were dark circles under his eyes.  
  
"Who are you?" he asked.  
  
"I'm the Doctor," said the Doctor, offering his hand. The man looked down at it for a second before he took it.  
  
"Michael Star," he said. "Professor Tenvi's assistant. I'm sorry, I've been working pretty much none stop these last three days. Got the demo tomorrow," he grinned faintly and turned back to the desk.  
  
"Professor Tenvi . . . ?" began the Doctor.  
  
"Not here," said Michael. "Sorry."  
  
"I can see that," said the Doctor. "But I need to find him. I'm an old friend," he added helpfully.  
  
"Look, the boss, is going to go nuts if I can't pull off this demo in front of the investors. The professor has disappeared. I really have a lot to do." He moved a pile of papers to one side, then ducked down and opened the top desk drawer.  
  
"Don't you want to find him?"  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Professor Tenvi."  
  
"I wouldn't know where to start." He straightened up, holding another sheaf of papers, and fixed his tired eyes on the Doctor. "One morning I arrive here, and he wasn't in his office, which was pretty odd. I mean he practically lives in here. Security couldn't find him anywhere in the complex, or the city. There's no way he could have taken a shuttle out of the system, he's just too well known. And now it's my neck on the line." Michael sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. "And to be perfectly honest I just don't understand what he was doing anyway. I can't get the mirrors to work myself. His notes must be here. And I know there were translation papers around here, somewhere." He was talking almost to himself now, eyes scanning sheet after sheet of paper. "If you want to help, you could check those data chips for Tarvan translations, if you can find a free computer."  
  
"Well, thank you for your help," said the Doctor as he scooped the chips off the desk and put them in a pocket. Michael didn't even look up. With a shrug the Doctor left the room, and walked straight into the barrel of a gun.  
  
"Doctor, there you are." The Doctor looked up to see a neatly dressed woman standing next to the man holding the gun. She wore a lab coat and a friendly smile. "Nice of you to make yourself so easy to find. Please take him somewhere secure," she said, speaking to the guard. "I'll be with you shortly."  
  
+++  
  
Turlough sat on an uncomfortable desk chair, alone in a pale blue room on the top floor of the science institute. He had been waiting here for less than twenty minutes, but he was already bored and restless, not to mention afraid of what was going to happen to him. Not for the first time, he felt like he was playing the part of a mere pawn in the Black Guardian's game.  
  
When he had stepped out of the TARDIS, he had hesitated for a moment before closing the door behind him. The Guardian had been quite clear on that point though: on no account must either Charis or Francis Denville be allowed into the ship, but as he pulled the door shut, he also locked himself out of his only place of safety. He straightened his tie and took a deep breath, preparing once again to talk for his life.  
  
It had worked though. In fact, it had been far easier to persuade them of his intentions that he had imagined. It was almost as though he were simply reading a part.  
  
There was a knock on the door, and he stood up. Charis and Denville entered the room, followed by an armed guard. Charis immediately moved behind the desk and sat in the chair there, leaning forward and steepling her fingers. Denville stayed by the door.  
  
"That's fine, Hendley," said Charis nodding to the guard, and with a quick salute, he left the room.  
  
Turlough glanced from one to the other, trying not to appear nervous. He was on his own now; the Guardian had not given him any instructions on what to do after he arrived at the Institute. Charis was definitely more suspicious of him, less trusting, but it seemed that it was Denville who had the final say. He spoke for the company, Nugent Power Corps, that paid for the Institute's research, and Charis seemed unwilling to do anything that would risk her Institute's finances.  
  
"Well, we have the Doctor in custody," she said, and Turlough nodded.  
  
"What did I tell you?" he said, spreading his hands. "A saboteur, sent here to prevent tomorrow's demonstration."  
  
"A very inept saboteur, and you still haven't told us how you knew about his presence."  
  
"I've told you everything I can," said Turlough, looking at Charis. He shrugged. "There's nothing else I can say to you."  
  
"Maybe you should speak to our prisoner then," suggested Denville to Charis. She scowled, and stood up.  
  
"This is my project. I have a right to know what's going on. A disappearance, theft of components and now sabotage! I want an answer."  
  
"And you'll get one, if it's in the projects interests," replied Denville smoothly.  
  
Charis seemed about to speak again, but then thought better off it. She shot a glare at Turlough as she left the room, shutting the door firmly behind her.  
  
"So how did Nugent find out about the saboteur?" asked Denville.  
  
"I'm sorry?"  
  
"There are secure comm stations here, you know. It would have been simpler to send a message."  
  
Turlough's mind raced. There was something here he was missing. Who did Denville think he was? He went over the Guardian's warning, the precise words he had been told to use: the warning to repeat them exactly. He looked at Denville, the first sign of suspicion forming on his face as Turlough remained silent.  
  
"This project's too important," he said with as much confidence as he could muster. The answer seemed to satisfy Denville. He nodded.  
  
"It would have been nice to have a little warning. Still, I suppose this means we have another test subject."  
  
+++  
  
"I want to see the prisoner."  
  
Charis was furious. She hated being told what to do at her own Institute, hated the necessity that made her dependent on the goodwill of one of the corporations, and she hated this guard's hesitation at obeying her order. Had Denville started bribing them? The balance of power here was definitely starting to tilt in his favour, and with her top scientist missing, it was only going to get worse.  
  
"Now!"  
  
The guard relented, finally, and let her into the cell.  
  
The prisoner was sitting on the thin hard bench at the other side of the room. He looked up as she entered, his expression mildly curious. Turlough's description of him, his appearance and manner of dress had made him impossible to mistake, but she found his countenance, his mannerisms, in conflict with his supposed purpose here - perhaps that was the point.  
  
"Ah. Hello again," he said standing up and giving her a smile that seemed genuine. "Would you mind telling me what I'm doing in here?"  
  
"You've been arrested for attempted sabotage," she stated bluntly.  
  
"Oh." He paused before he spoke again, saying, "I don't suppose you know where Professor Tenvi is. I came here to visit him, and according to everyone I've met, he's disappeared."  
  
"Eliminating our top scientist would be quite an effective way to sabotage our project here," said Charis, folding her arms.  
  
"I'm not a saboteur. I came here to visit an old friend. Tegan and I have only been here a matter of hours, and I . . ."  
  
"Tegan?" interrupted Charis. "There's someone with you?"  
  
The Doctor hesitated before he replied, he had assumed that something would have happened to Tegan as well, but apparently not. The last thing he wanted to do was out her in any danger, but no doubt they would search for her now that he had mentioned her.  
  
"My companion. We got caught outside at night, she's been treated by your doctor."  
  
Charis shook her head in disbelief. This was ridiculous: a conspicuous saboteur who was stupid enough to get caught in the sub-zero temperatures, and let slip that he had an accomplice.  
  
"Tenvi's a friend of yours?" she asked, knowing that that was what he had told Micheal Star. The Doctor nodded. "Do you know anything about his work, about the mirrors?" she asked, holding her breath.  
  
"A little," replied the Doctor.  
  
That was enough, as far as she was concerned; this was the one she was supposed to be helping.  
  
"Maybe you could be of assistance," she said.  
  
+++  
  
Turlough was alone again.  
  
It had become apparent that Denville believed him to be working for the intelligence department of Nugent Corps, and the Guardian had given him the code phrases that would identify his as such when he had spoke to Denville and Charis outside the TARDIS.  
  
He stifled the feeling of guilt at what he had done. He wasn't sure what Denville had meant about another test subject, and he really didn't want to speculate. He didn't know what he was supposed to do now. No one had told him to stay here, but he didn't know where to go.  
  
He stretched out on the chair, and closed his eyes. At least when he was asleep, he didn't have to think.  
  
"Waking or sleeping," said a dark voice. Turlough's eyes jerked open, looking for the voice's owner, but the little room was still empty. "You still have work to do." Turlough turned around slowly, the voice was coming from all around him, but it seemed that the Guardian had decided not to appear in a physical form this time. "The woman, she could still ruin my plans. Find her."  
  
"But Tegan has nothing to do with this," said Turlough.  
  
"She is a threat to my plans. Find her and keep her away from the Doctor!" the voice growled.  
  
Somehow, the presence of only a voice made Turlough feel less threatened.  
  
"She can't do anything tonight," he said wearily. "I'm tired."  
  
Pain shot through his head. Burning hot splinters pushing their way behind his eyes. He collapsed to the floor, screaming. The pain lessened, slightly. "All right. All right," he said. "I'll find her."  
  
The pain was gone, and so was the voice.  
  
+++  
  
"Exactly what would you like me to help you with?" asked the Doctor, hands in his pockets, frowning slightly. Charis realised that what she was about to do could be monumentally stupid, especially if she was wrong. But at the very least, she needed the demonstration to work tomorrow, and if this man knew anything at all about Tenvi's research he might be able to help.  
  
The door burst open.  
  
Charis whirled around as two guards stormed into the room, weapons drawn. Beyond them she saw Denville leaning easily against the side of the corridor.  
  
"What's the meaning of this?" demanded Charis, as the guards seized the Doctor and pulled him out of the room. She stepped forward to follow, but Denville blocked the doorway. "Where are you taking him?" she asked, looking up at Denville, hating the smug expression that had appeared on his face.  
  
"The Doctor is being taken to join is Professor Tenvi," he said. "And don't worry about the demo, I have everything organised quite nicely." He stepped back with a smile and slammed the door of the cell shut, locking Charis inside.  
  
+++  
  
After searching through much of the Institute, Turlough spotted Tegan outside the canteen, standing with a steaming mug between his hands. She seemed to be trying to decide which way to go. It took her a moment to spot Turlough approaching her.  
  
"Turlough! What are you doing here?"  
  
He shrugged. "Just came to see what I was missing." He looked around pointedly. "Can't say it was worth coming all this way for."  
  
"Have you seen the Doctor?"  
  
"Yes," he said. "Actually, he sent me to come and find you." For a moment he thought he had misjudged, and she wasn't going to believe him. Fear was making him nervous, and as her eyes narrowed slightly he knew that she had realised that he was lying, that she was going to accuse him and demand to know the truth.  
  
But the moment passed.  
  
"Lead the way," she said, and he smiled.  
  
+++  
  
The main laboratory was clinically white and filled with bright light. Normally a dozen or more scientists would be working in here, but right now only three people were present. In the middle of the room, the Doctor was strapped down onto a table, flanked by humming machinery. A network of electrodes attached to his skull was connected to the machines.  
  
"I would like to know what all this is in aid of," he said, perfectly calmly, his eyes looking at the two men standing by a massive control console on the other side of the room. The younger, Michael Star, was speaking in a low voice, the worry of nerves playing across his features. He was wringing his hands, and glancing between the Doctor and the second man whom the Doctor recognised as the one who had rather unceremoniously dragged him from his cell. "If its not too much trouble?"  
  
The second man turned away from Michael, and moved to stand over the Doctor.  
  
"I would, but it really wouldn't change anything," he said.  
  
"Mr Denville, I don't think . . ." began Michael.  
  
"Good. That's not what you're being paid for," he paused. "At least, not while you're talking to me."  
  
Denville pulled a small black box from his inner jacket pocket and opened it carefully. He took something out of it and held it up to the light. The Doctor caught sight of a small, no bigger than palm-sized, piece of red glass. It was square, with sharp edges and glowed brightly with an internal light.  
  
"I don't believe it!" said Michael.  
  
"Much more impressive than the other mirrors, isn't it?" Denville turned to the young researcher. "Would you like to know how it was done?"  
  
Michael nodded without even thinking about it, his sense of curiosity overriding his good sense.  
  
"Good." Denville smiled in a very uncomforting way, and he tapped a button on his wrist-control. The doors to the laboratory slid open and two guards entered, weapons pointing at Michael. "Because after the Doctor, you'll be next, and I think we'll give you a mirror all to yourself."  
  
"You can't . . ."  
  
"Take him outside," snapped Denville as he slid the red glass into one of the machines by the Doctor. The hum from the machine reached a higher pitched, and the Doctor was about to enquire what was happening when his surroundings suddenly changed.  
  
He was lying on the floor, and looking at a white ceiling. He found that his arms and legs were now free and he stood up to find himself in a square, white room.  
  
And he wasn't alone.  
  
Sitting down, his back leaning against the wall and apparently asleep was a short man with a massive, slightly greying beard. His plump face was heavily lined, and beneath bushy eyebrows, his eyes were closed.  
  
The eyes opened and met the Doctor's.  
  
It was the Doctor who spoke first.  
  
"Professor Tenvi, what are you doing here?"  
  
+++ 


	2. Conclusion

A/N: Thanks to kittenmommy for pointing out the typo :)  
  
+++  
  
Mirror Theory  
  
Part Two  
  
+++  
  
"Not far now," said Turlough, taking another glance back at an increasingly irritated Tegan.  
  
"What's he doing down here, anyway?" she asked, here being the lowest level of the Institute, and an area that Turlough had past through in his search for Tegan. It was mostly offices for the junior staff, but one of the side corridors contained a series of cells. Turlough had decided that the most expedient way of keeping Tegan away from the Doctor was to lock her up.  
  
"I'm not . . ." He paused, and both he and Tegan looked towards one of the locked doors. From behind it, he had definitely heard the muffled cry of someone shouting. It sounded like . . .  
  
"Help!" it said again.  
  
Tegan rushed to the door before Turlough could stop her and tried to open it. She punched the small electronic panel where the handle should have be, causing it to emit an indignant beep.  
  
"We've no idea who's in there," protested Turlough as Tegan tried the panel again.  
  
"Well, we're going to find out," she said, concentrating on the door lock. She didn't notice Turlough slipping quietly back down the corridor.  
  
The door slid open. "Third time's a charm," said Tegan with a satisfied smile.  
  
Out of the cell stumbled a woman wearing a lab coat.  
  
"Thank you," she said looking at her rescuer in some confusion. "Who are you?"  
  
"Tegan Jovanka," she said, noting the look of recognition on the woman's face, "And this is . . ." She paused as she looked around, seeing no sign of Turlough. "Where's he gone now?" she muttered, her hands on her hips.  
  
"Tegan? The Doctor's friend? I don't suppose you know where he is, do you?"  
  
Tegan shook her head. "That's who I was looking for when I came down here. And who are you?"  
  
"Charis. This is supposed to be my Institute, but a . . . an associate of mine seems to disagree." She paused, considering. "Right. Better head for the main lab then and find out what's going on.." She began to march down the corridor, and paused at the intersection. "I suppose you'd better come with me if you want to find your friend."  
  
+++  
  
"I'm terribly sorry, I haven't a clue who you are," said the bearded man, struggling to his feet. "But I'm absolutely delighted to have some company. I would offer you tea, but . . ." He shrugged and indicated the blank whiteness of his surroundings. "We seem to be lacking the facilities."  
  
"I'm the Doctor," said the Doctor, smiling warmly.  
  
Professor Tenvi looked up at the Doctor's face and squinted. He gave his eyes a rub, and shrugged.  
  
"I know I don't have my glasses with me, but you certainly don't look like the Doctor."  
  
"I've regenerated."  
  
"Oh. Oh dear. How dreadful for you." Tenvi sniffed and looked at the ceiling. "Well, I suppose you'd better make yourself comfortable. You're likely to be here for some time."  
  
"How long?" asked the Doctor.  
  
"Oh, forever, I should think."  
  
+++  
  
Turlough dived into another corridor, out of sight of Charis and Tegan as they headed for the main laboratory. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the crystal.  
  
"What do I do now?" he asked, shaking it in his fist as though that would somehow force the Guardian to act.  
  
A spark of light appeared in his hand.  
  
"Find one of the guards. Make sure Denville knows she had escaped."  
  
The light was gone.  
  
+++  
  
"So you know where we are?" asked the Doctor, pacing back and forth across the little room. It was, as far as he could make out, a perfect cube of four metres in each direction.  
  
"Oh yes. We're inside one of the mirrors, and do stop pacing, you're starting to make me giddy."  
  
"The mirrors?" asked the Doctor sitting down by the Professor. Tenvi nodded. "We're actually inside your great discovery?" The Doctor looked momentarily impressed, but there was a definite look of embarrassment on the Professor's face.  
  
"Well, old fellow." He paused and gave a little cough. "It's not exactly my discovery."  
  
"Well, whose is it then?" asked the Doctor, frowning.  
  
"Um . . .the Tarvans, actually."  
  
The Doctor was silent for a moment, as he remembered the unfortunate Tarvan civilisation, and its even more unfortunate end.  
  
"Professor?"  
  
"Yes, Doctor?"  
  
"Are you trying to tell me that you've been digging up ancient technology, figuring out how it works and then passing it off as your own?"  
  
"Yes, Doctor."  
  
There was a pause.  
  
"Professor?"  
  
"Yes, Doctor?"  
  
"Don't you think that was a bit of a stupid thing to do?" asked the Doctor, very quietly. "Especially with a civilisation that creates a weapon destructive enough to destroy its own planet in a matter of minutes?"  
  
"Umm . . ."  
  
"Well, wasn't it!"  
  
"Look, Doctor I don't think you understand the pressure I was under. These corporate people, they want results!"  
  
Silence reigned for a moment in the white box. Finally, the Doctor realised that a lecture on the morality of ransacking an ancient culture really wasn't the most productive thing he could do right now. Instead, he said:  
  
"Maybe you'd better tell me exactly how these mirrors work."  
  
+++  
  
The first thing Tegan saw in the main laboratory was the motionless body of the Doctor lying in the centre of the room. She checked his hearts and with a sigh of relief heard them both beating.  
  
"He's alive," she said, and then noticed that his eyes were open and staring at he ceiling. His blue eyes that so often sparkled with wit or intelligence or amusement were now staring blankly into space, quite dead. "What's wrong with him?" asked Tegan, closing the Doctor's eyes.  
  
Charis was looking over a console on the other side of the room and then at a monitor over the Doctor's head. "I'm not sure," she said. "His body's alive." She frowned slightly, her eyes moving over the readings more slowly. "Does he really have two hearts?" she asked in surprise.  
  
"Yes! But what's wrong with him?"  
  
"No higher brain functions," she said. "This really is very odd. I'm no doctor, but I'm fairly sure he should be dead."  
  
"There must be something you can do for him!" exclaimed Tegan.  
  
"I'm afraid not," said the cool voice of Francis Denville, standing in the open doorway. "But don't worry. Your friend is helping to pave the way towards a bright new future, for all of us." The meaning of his words was lost on Tegan, but she could see that they meant something to Charis  
  
"You put him in the mirror," she said.  
  
"That's right." Denville took the shining piece of red glass out of its box and held it up. "Beautiful, isn't it?"  
  
+++  
  
"So we're not actually inside the mirror?" asked the Doctor. Tenvi rubbed his forehead, forcing the wrinkles into creases of his rubbery skin.  
  
"No, we're nowhere, actually, but only in a purely mathematical sense. From what I understand, this is a miniature universe, a sort of bubble existing very close to but not actually in our own universe. It's storing the energy that can be used through the mirror. That energy is us, something the Tarvans discovered, you see, the actual process of self-awareness, of sentience, creates a force that they were able to harness."  
  
"So the mirror acts as a focus," said the Doctor, nodding.  
  
"Exactly," said Tenvi. "We have no form in any real sense and yet clearly whatever's left of us is interpreting our environment in a way we can understand. It'd be absolutely fascinating if we weren't trapped here."  
  
"And how did that happen, Professor?" asked the Doctor. Once more Tenvi looked remarkably uncomfortable, shifting his weight and trying to appear interested in the white ceiling.  
  
+++  
  
"Are you insane?" demanded Chalice. "You've put people in those things?"  
  
Denville smiled, and seated himself at the console. He placed the shining red mirror into a slot and pointed to the monitor overhead. "Look at that," he said, pointing. "Look at that and tell me it's not worth it."  
  
Tegan looked at the figures that were being displayed, but it made no sense to her. A long line of numbers interspersed with squiggles as far as she was concerned. She glanced at Charis and watched as the look on her face changed; it was obvious that this meant something to her.  
  
"I don't believe it," she said it a voice that sounded to Tegan as though she was forcing it to stay calm.  
  
+++  
  
"Money, Doctor," muttered Tenvi, his eyes still fixed on the ceiling. "Oh, I know it isn't the best of motives, and I know how one tends to get over fond of the stuff, but...well, it really was such an awful lot of money, you see. One little project for a megacorp and I could fund my own research for the rest of my life."  
  
He paused, and managed to meet the Doctor's gaze. Calm blue eyes, that weren't accusing him of anything, it helped, just a little. Tenvi took a deep breath, and went on. "This chap came to see me, called himself Decvil...no, wasn't that. Umm, Fevil? Denvan?"  
  
"Is this relevant, Professor?" asked the Doctor.  
  
"Names often are, but no, not really. Anyway, he wanted me to take part in some expedition he was putting together to go to one of the outer worlds. You know, real out on the fringes work, frontier of the empire, that sort of thing. It did sound exciting, but I told him I didn't know anything about ancient culture; didn't care much about them either, to be honest: all the dust tends to make me sneeze. Then he mentioned a paper of mine he'd read on advancing beyond cold fusion." The Professor paused, smiling. "Won a few prizes that one," he said proudly, glancing at the Doctor. "Then he told me about this new form of energy that he suspected this old culture had."  
  
"So then you agreed to go?"  
  
"Ah, no. Wasn't really bothered about new forms of energy either, you see. Quite happy with what we've got."  
  
"So what did happen?" asked the Doctor, allowing a hint of exasperation to seep into his voice.  
  
"He named a rather large sum of money."  
  
+++  
  
"One sentient being and enough energy for a planetary grid," Charis murmured.  
  
"Almost. I actually have two in that particular mirror. Still, it is quite impressive."  
  
"You put Tenvi in there?" asked Charis, her eyes finally moving from the screen to look at Denville.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Does it matter?" Denville stood up. "Have you any idea how much this technology is worth? One crystal. Just one, and any sentient being and we enough energy to power an entire world."  
  
"You knew about this before, you knew what the Tarvans had discovered," she accused, crossing to the console and looking at the more detailed readings there. She took the crystal out of the slot, and saw her reflection in the red surface.  
  
"Not enough, I'm afraid. I needed the Professor's help to work out the details."  
  
"And now, you're just willing to share it?" asked Charis suspiciously.  
  
"You did do the translation work. There's only so much money one person can spend in a lifetime."  
  
Tegan was listening to the conversation in increasing disbelief, and was beginning to wish she had never opened that cell.  
  
"What about the Doctor?" she demanded.  
  
"She has a point," said Charis quietly. "You can't keep putting innocent people into these things."  
  
"We don't need to. Earth has an ample supply of criminals. The government will love it," he said passing Charis the black storage box. Tegan watched as Charis put the red mirror inside it, closed it and gave it back to Denville.  
  
"But what about the Doctor?" insisted Tegan. "You can't just leave him trapped in that thing!"  
  
"Actually I can. If for no other reason then I don't know how to release him," Denville said. "I'm going to have to ask you to remain here, young woman. There will be guards outside the door, should you attempt to leave. They will shoot you." He glanced at his watch. "Time we were going," he said, throwing a glance to Charis. "The investors will be at the warehouse within the hour, and we have a demonstration to finalise."  
  
+++  
  
Professor Tenvi was pacing the room now, rubbing his hands nervously as he spoke. "Then we all packed up and came back here...I mean back to the Institute. I worked on the translation's with a young woman, um...name was...anyway, pretty soon it became clear we needed something living to power the mirrors, which, by the way, all seemed to have vanished apart from the few I was allowed for my experiments. Typical corporation."  
  
"So how did you end up in here?"  
  
"Ah, I solved the puzzle. Found out what you needed a sentient being in order to create the necessary power. Then I found out what Denville wanted that power for. I didn't approve, you see. Bit of an argument, then I went to sleep one night, woke up in here. Of course, it only took me an hour or so to work out what had happened."  
  
+++  
  
It was one-way glass.  
  
Turlough sat looking down into the main lab, his expression unreadable. He watched as Denville and Charis left with the guards. He saw the look of outrage on Tegan's face melt away as she turned and knelt by the Doctor. She took his hand, holding it in both of hers.  
  
She was crying.  
  
Turlough leaned forward, watching the scene intently, and frowned. He had never seen Tegan like this, and if it was up to her, he doubted he ever would. She seemed to be saying something, but too quietly for him to make out. He watched as she brought the Doctor's hand up to her cheek.  
  
Suddenly, he turned away, feeling guilty for watching.  
  
The room around him was dark and black and empty.  
  
+++  
  
"I'd forgotten about you," said Denville as he stepped into the corridor and saw Michael Star flanked by two guards. He gave the young scientist a faint smile, before pulling out a gun and shooting him.  
  
"Was that necessary?" asked Charis as they walked towards the shuttle hangar. She had enough sense to cover the shock she had felt at her employee's murder, but the expression on his face seemed to have imprinted itself on her mind's eye.  
  
Denville shrugged. "Probably not."  
  
"I've been thinking," said Charis carefully.  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Surely the mirrors have more potential than making sure the cities light up at night," she paused, trying to read Denville's expression. "Wouldn't there be a bigger market if their energy could be used in weapons?"  
  
"I'm glad you said that," he replied, his lips quirking into a smile.  
  
+++  
  
Turlough didn't know what to do. He had taken the crystal from his pocket, demanding that the Guardian speak to him, but there had been no response.  
  
"The Doctor's dead!" he had cried desperately. "I've done what you wanted!"  
  
Still nothing but the dark little room.  
  
He had been abandoned, and not for the first time.  
  
He had so desperately wanted to escape Earth; the planet had revolted him, terrified him. He knew he was a coward, but had always believed it to be a virtue, and one which had saved his life when braver men had died. He was afraid now, because he was alone. This wasn't like Earth, where he could at least feel secure in the fact that he was surrounded by primitives.  
  
He had betrayed the Doctor, and that one undisputable fact was twisting into him as he listened to Tegan sob.  
  
It seemed to take an eternity to reach the main lab doors. He had almost stopped when he saw the guards, but they had ignored him as he walked past, probably too unimportant for them to bother with. And he doubted anyone would have cared, or even noticed if they had shot him.  
  
Self-pity was something else he was used to.  
  
"Turlough!" Tegan jumped back from the Doctor's side as soon as she saw him enter, quickly wiping her eyes. They were still red though, and her mascara had left black streaks. "The Doctor . . ." she waved helplessly at his body, her voice sounding almost normal.  
  
Then he did something that he didn't expect; he stepped forward and hugged Tegan. He had expected her to jump back, or shout. At the very least, he had expected her to pull away. But she didn't, she stood there, letting him hold her.  
  
"That man is a megalomaniac," said an indignant voice.  
  
Tegan and Turlough turned to the door of the laboratory just in time to see Charis storm through the doors, her arms piled high with folders. Tegan looked at her in disbelief as she dumped the folders onto the workbench and started to leaf through them. "Well," said Charis, shooting them a disapproving glance. "Do you want to save your friend or not?"  
  
+++  
  
"Doctor?"  
  
"Yes, Professor?"  
  
"You're not angry, are you?"  
  
The Doctor gave a long sigh before replying: "No, not really."  
  
"Oh, good."  
  
+++  
  
"All right, what are you up to?" asked Tegan, hands on hips. Turlough almost smiled as he watched her: this was the Tegan he was used to.  
  
"We haven't go a lot of time," said Charis, not bothering to look up from the papers.  
  
"You'd better explain quickly then, because last time I checked you . .. "  
  
"He's going to destroy the colony," she said. "The spaceport, this Institute, homes, restaurants, lamps, litter bins and every unfortunate person in between. Do you understand? Everyone here is going to die in a very bloody demonstration of exactly what one of these mirrors can do when it's powered up."  
  
"We have to warn them!" exclaimed Tegan.  
  
"No time, I'm afraid. What we have to do is rescue the Doctor." She looked up to see Tegan was about to hit her with another question. "Look," she tossed one of the files to Tegan. "I know that Tenvi continued with the translations after I'd finished, we have to find the completed version."  
  
"Why?" asked Turlough, picking up a file.  
  
"Because it should tell us how to reverse the process."  
  
"You began experiments with completing translation of the procedure?" asked Turlough.  
  
"Denville didn't consider it necessary."  
  
"Conscientious lot, aren't you?" muttered Tegan. She stared down at the pages, most of the lettering and scrawls of handwriting meaning nothing to her. "How do we know what to look for?" she asked.  
  
"Let me know if you see these symbols," replied Charis, passing her a piece of paper blank except for three hastily drawn letters, though they were from no alphabet that Tegan recognised. She felt Turlough peering at it from over her shoulder.  
  
"I'll be right back," said Charis, heading for one of the side doors. Immediately, Tegan jumped up.  
  
"Where are you going exactly?" she asked.  
  
"To check the cryogenic freezers."  
  
+++  
  
"ETA?" snapped Denville.  
  
"Twenty minutes, sir," replied the pilot.  
  
Denville sat back in his seat, watching the barren landscape skimming past. Everything had gone beautifully so far, though if he was honest with himself he hadn't really expected Charis to be so uncaring about the deaths of Tenvi and Star. Perhaps he should have told her about the five other unfortunate inhabitants of the colony who had mysteriously disappeared. He glanced over his shoulder at the precious package secured in the back of the shuttle: five more fully powered crystals.  
  
He could feel paranoia creeping through him; she had been so insistent on collecting some personal belongings when she found out the Institute was going to be destroyed, perhaps he should have sent more than one guard with her.  
  
But even if she did betray him, he quickly checked his watch, even if she did, there was no time left now for her to do anything about it. He took out the slim black box from his inside jacket pocket: this one he would be keeping for himself, a souvenir.  
  
He opened the box, and swore.  
  
It was empty.  
  
+++  
  
"Nothing," muttered Charis. "It must be here, it must. I know he finished the translations. There was simply no where else for them to be except his office."  
  
"And there were no more files in his office?" asked Turlough. Charis shook her head.  
  
"Wait a minute," Tegan stopped reading. Turlough and Charis looked at her expectantly. "Tenvi's office?" she asked.  
  
"Yes."  
  
Tegan frowned, then said, "That's where the Doctor went, just after he arrived. Would be just like him to have taken it." She stood up and crossed to the Doctor. "Sorry about this, Doc," she murmured, and searched his pockets retrieving a 500 year old diary, a small yo-yo, some loose change in an alien currency and three small cubes.  
  
"Data chips," said Charis, jumping up and taking the cubes. She slotted them into the main console and they all watched the monitors as text started to scroll across them. "Brilliant, Tegan," she said. "This is it!"  
  
A few minutes later and Charis was elbow deep inside the machines that flanked the Doctor. Wires and circuit boards were scattered on the floor.  
  
"Do you know what you're doing?" asked Tegan. Charis shot her a look, her brow furrowed in concentration as she continued rearrange the inside of the machine.  
  
"I'll be honest if you like," she muttered. "Engineering really isn't my field, I'm more of an administrator. The white coat's just for show."  
  
"You're joking."  
  
"No, not really," replied Charis. "But the instructions are fairly straight forward. How's it going over there?" she asked.  
  
"Finished," said Turlough, who had been surprised to find himself useful, and able to rewire the lab equipment following the translated Tarvan instructions.  
  
"Well, let's switch on then," said Charis, fishing the red mirror out of a pocket and slotting it into the machine.  
  
+++  
  
"Oh my! Doctor! You've gone all transparent!"  
  
"I have?" asked the Doctor looking done at himself. "Oh, so I have."  
  
+++  
  
"Doctor!"  
  
The Doctor found himself in the main lab, and receiving a warm hug from a delighted Tegan. He stood up, and looked around.  
  
"What's happened?" he asked.  
  
"Denville is going to destroy the colony with one of the mirrors. He's set it up so the investors can watch safely from warehouse where you landed. He's going to use the power from the crystal to activate the old planetary defence system."  
  
"Which he's reprogrammed to fire at the colony?" asked the Doctor, trying to piece the situation together, as he headed for the door. "My friend is still trapped in that mirror," he said.  
  
"Don't worry, Denville put his body in one of the cryo-tubes. I suppose he thought Tenvi might still be useful. I'll get him out, don't worry, but the demonstration is scheduled to begin in less than ten minutes. Your TARDIS is upstairs, third floor, first door on the left."  
  
The Doctor stopped and turned around slowly, fixing his blue eyes on Charis's.  
  
"And how do you know about that?" he asked her.  
  
"Mutual friend," she replied. "Good luck, Doctor."  
  
+++  
  
The Doctor barely set a word as he, Tegan and Turlough ran to the TARDIS. As they stepped through the doors into the bright light of the console room, he moved instantly to the controls, and quickly reset the co- ordinates. A moment late the central piston unit began to move smoothly up and down.  
  
"Who was this 'mutual friend' then?" asked Tegan, unable to listen to the silence any longer.  
  
"I don't know," replied the Doctor. "But we have other things to worry about right now." He opened a cupboard by the inner doors and passed Tegan a black box, taking a second one for himself. "Torches," he said, by way of explanation.  
  
The TARDIS had materialised and the Doctor opened the doors. Tegan and Turlough followed him outside.  
  
"Where are we?" asked Tegan as she switched on the torch. It was pitch black, and the air smelled stale. With the torchlight she managed to pick out ugly metallic walls and the details of operating consoles that lined the walls.  
  
"In the control centre of the orbital platforms. They've been powered down for years and left to rust in space," said the Doctor. "If Charis was right, then I should be able to perform a little counter reprogramming and any energy fired from these can dissipate harmlessly into space."  
  
"Have you got enough time?" asked Turlough.  
  
"We're about to find out."  
  
+++  
  
Denville's shuttle landed fifty metres away from the warehouse, now surrounded by similar shuttles. He switched on the equipment in the shuttle and the monitors flickered to show him the interior of the warehouse. He could hear the low buzz of conversation, and could see his representative moving amongst the knots of people.  
  
He opened the black storage case and took out one of the mirrors, admiring its shimmering red light, but he really had wanted the Tenvi mirror as a souvenir.  
  
He sat back and waited. It would be another few minutes before the speech began.  
  
+++  
  
"There!" exclaimed the Doctor, pulling himself out from under the console where he had been working. "That should do it." He gave Tegan a smile, which she returned with an unconvinced look.  
  
"You're sure?" she asked.  
  
"Reasonably," said the Doctor.  
  
+++  
  
Time for the show.  
  
Denville watched as a real time hologram of the colony was displayed in the centre of the warehouse. Now they were waiting expectantly.  
  
He had given the mirror to one of his guards a few minutes ago, and now it was in the hands of his representative. Here he could watch the demonstration in perfect anonymity.  
  
Carefully, precisely, he operated the controls, sending a pulse of energy into space towards the waiting central platform.  
  
Instantly, he could see that something had gone wrong.  
  
He moved to a second console and activated his remote link up with the platform computer. He tried to retarget the platforms back to the planet surface, back at the colony, but he wasn't reprogramming fast enough: they weren't going to fire at the right target.  
  
The orbital platforms were following the first trajectory they could find: the one that he had used to send up the energy from the mirror. They were aiming for the warehouse.  
  
+++  
  
They were back in the TARDIS, hovering somewhere above Delvan III, with the Doctor insisting that he was not going to miss the demonstration.  
  
"But Tenvi's trapped in that mirror, isn't he?" asked Tegan. The Doctor had shrugged.  
  
"It's all part of the web of time, Tegan. This is a very important day for the Professor. Now if you'll just let me find the right frequency." He was busy at one of the console panels, the one that held the controls for the scanner.  
  
"I though you wanted to see it live," she tried.  
  
"I think we've interfered quite enough for one day," said the Doctor. "Ah, here we are." He switched on the scanner and the whiteness dissolved into a picture dominated by the round features of Professor Tenvi. The Doctor was watching the picture intently, and with a sigh Tegan decided she would try and listen to whatever scientific mumbo-jumbo the Professor was going to talk about.  
  
+++  
  
"Well done, Professor, well done." Charis was smiling for what felt like the first time in days as she congratulated the Professor when he stepped down from the podium. Granted it hadn't been exactly what anyone was expecting, and she seriously doubted any big names would be interested in giving them any money, but in a matter of hours the Professor had managed to put together enough evidence, notes, and holographic projections to effectively prove the existence of pocket universes.  
  
He hadn't told them that he had actually spent sometime in one, which Charis was immensely grateful for. The last thing she wanted was for the galaxy to remember Professor Tenvi as a promising scientist who went quite, quite mad.  
  
"Do you think anyone watched?" he asked, returning the smile.  
  
"Well, considering this was supposed to be a live demo, with only edited highlights for the news vids, I think we did pretty well."  
  
That, she knew, was an understatement. It should have been a disaster: dozens of dead company reps, her liaison with her main investor dead, and the main project destroyed in the explosion. But Tenvi's remarkable ability to survive in the scientific arena had prevailed as he had pulled something out of the mess.  
  
She was going to give the man a pay rise, she decided, as she arrived at her quarters on the third floor.  
  
She switched on the lights, and was greeted by a gun.  
  
"Hello," said Denville, smiling. "I believe I have you to thank for some of my discomfort."  
  
She blinked, refusing to believe for a moment that he was alive. "But the explosion?"  
  
"Fortunately, my shuttle had a very good pilot: me."  
  
"Now what?" she asked, backing away.  
  
He smiled, raising the gun, and said: "I'm glad you asked that."  
  
+++  
  
"Your pawn is dead."  
  
It was a voice in a void. A place empty of form; a vastness where nothing existed. It had been made as a middle ground, a meeting place between eternal foes.  
  
"But yours is beginning to turn," came the reply.  
  
"Not for long."  
  
Crystal light appeared in real space: a bright, shining, twisting flowing of energy.  
  
"This game will end soon," said the darkness that stood by the crystal.  
  
+++  
  
Turlough sat in his room, alone, staring at the crystal in his hands.  
  
Right now, he didn't feel as though he could face either the Doctor or Tegan. He couldn't face putting on his facade of friendliness, of being polite in response to Tegan's barbs.  
  
He could feel his tattered conscience shouting accusations at him inside his head as he cradled what had been his only line of hope since he had been exiled to Earth. He found that he couldn't really convince himself that the Guardian had his best interests had heart, and hadn't been able to for some time.  
  
What had he been thinking?  
  
He had agreed to kill someone. He shuddered at the memory of his own desperation, and willingness to agree to anything, just so long as he could escape Earth. He hadn't even thought about it, not really. He hadn't considered exactly how difficult it would be to end a life; he had seen people killed, his own people killing each other and nearly killing him. It had looked easy, so simple.  
  
But he had had too much time to think about it, and even if he did manage to somehow bring himself to do it, he wasn't entirely convinced that he could live with the guilt.  
  
He was a coward: too afraid not to obey the Guardian, too afraid to kill the Doctor.  
  
+++  
  
End. 


End file.
